Electronic device and method for controlling same

ABSTRACT

Disclosed is an electronic device. The electronic device comprises: a display; a storage unit for storing an application for integrally controlling a plurality of speakers operating on the basis of different wireless solutions; and a processor for driving the application according to a preset event. The application is capable of providing, through the display, a list containing identification information for the plurality of speakers, and providing, through the display, a UI screen including a function which is commonly provided to the different wireless solutions when one of the plurality of speakers is selected.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The disclosure relates to an electronic device and a method forcontrolling the same, and more specifically to an electronic deviceproviding a UI for controlling a plurality of speakers and a method forcontrolling the same.

BACKGROUND ART

Various wireless solutions for implementing wireless speakers areavailable, and speakers generally use wireless solutions different fromone another based on the speaker manufacturer or use a differentwireless solution by adopting technologies of different previouslypublished wireless solution providers.

In order to control speakers using wireless solutions different from oneanother, different applications may be used.

Accordingly, a plurality of applications is required to control speakersusing wireless solutions different from one another, and there is theinconvenience of not being able to maintain a continuity of userexperience based on using applications different from one another.

DISCLOSURE Technical Problem

The disclosure is based on the above-described necessity, and an objectof the disclosure is to provide an electronic device capable ofcollectively controlling a plurality of speakers operating based ondifferent wireless solutions through an application stored with wirelesssolutions different from one another and a method for controlling thesame.

Technical Solution

According to an embodiment, an electronic device includes a display, astorage stored with an application for collectively controlling aplurality of speakers operating based on wireless solutions differentfrom one another, and a processor configured to run the applicationaccording to a pre-set event, and the application is configured toprovide a list including identification information on the plurality ofspeakers through the display, and provide a UI screen including afunction commonly provided in the wireless solutions different from oneanother through the display based on one of the plurality of speakersbeing selected.

The application may store information on control data for each wirelesssolution different from one another corresponding to the function, andbased on a user command for controlling a specific function of theselected speaker being input, convert the user command to control dataof a wireless solution corresponding to the selected speaker based onthe stored information.

The application may, based on receiving information indicating that anoperation corresponding to the control data has been performed from thespeaker, provide feedback indicating that the operation has beenperformed based on the received information through the display.

The application may provide the UI screen including a function commonlyprovided in a first wireless solution and a second wireless solutioncorresponding to the selected first speaker and the selected secondspeaker through the display based on the first speaker and the secondspeaker being selected, and based on a user command for controlling aspecific function of the first speaker and the second speaker beinginput, convert the user command to a first control data and a secondcontrol data of the first wireless solution and the second wirelesssolution corresponding respectively to the first speaker and the secondspeaker to transmit to the first speaker and the second speakerrespectively.

The application may provide a UI screen for receiving input of at leastone of a name of a wireless solution corresponding to a speaker, amanufacturer name of the speaker, and a product name of the speaker, andbased on at least one of a name of a wireless solution corresponding tothe speaker, a manufacturer name of the speaker, and a product name ofthe speaker being input, search for speakers capable of connecting withthe electronic device based on input information.

The application may identify an order of arrangement of the plurality ofspeakers on the list based on at least one from a selection history of auser including at least one of a time of selection and a frequency ofselection and an order of arrangement at the time of searching forconnectable speakers.

The UI screen may include a pre-set item, and the application may, basedon the item being selected, additionally provide a menu corresponding toa unique function of the selected speaker.

The pre-set event may be an event with a plurality of speakers operatingbased on a user command or wireless solutions different from one anotherbeing identified as capable of connecting with the electronic device oridentified as having connected with the electronic device.

According to an embodiment, a method of controlling an electronic deviceto store an application for collectively controlling a plurality ofspeakers operating based on wireless solutions different from oneanother includes running the application according to a pre-set event,and providing a list including identification information on theplurality of speakers by the application and providing a UI screenincluding a function commonly provided in the wireless solutionsdifferent from one another based on one of the plurality of speakersbeing selected.

The method may further include storing information on control data forwireless solutions different from one another corresponding to thefunction by the application, and based on a user command for controllinga specific function of the selected speaker being input, converting theuser command to a control data of a wireless solution corresponding tothe selected speaker by the application based on information stored inthe application, and transmitting the control data to the selectedspeaker

The method may further include, based on receiving informationindicating that an operating corresponding to the control data has beenperformed from the speaker, providing feedback indicating that theoperation has been performed by the application based on the receivedinformation.

The method may further include, providing the UI screen including afunction commonly provided in a first wireless solution and a secondwireless solution corresponding to a selected first speaker and aselected second speaker by the application based on the first speakerand the second speaker being selected from the plurality of speakers,and based on a user command for controlling a specific function of thefirst speaker and the second speaker being input, converting the usercommand to a first control data and a second control data of the firstwireless solution and the second wireless solution correspondingrespectively to the first speaker and the second speaker andtransmitting the converted first control data and the converted secondcontrol data to the first speaker and the second speaker respectively bythe application.

The method may further include, providing a UI screen for receivinginput of at least one of a name of a wireless solution corresponding toa speaker, a manufacturer name of the speaker, and a product name of thespeaker by the application, and based on at least one of a name of thewireless solution corresponding to the speaker, a manufacturer name ofthe speaker, and a product name of the speaker being input by theapplication, searching for a speaker capable of connecting with theelectronic device based on an input information.

The method may further include, identifying an order of arrangement ofthe plurality of speakers on the list based on at least one of a userselection history including at least one of a time of selection and afrequency of section, and identification order at the time of searchingfor connectable speakers by the application.

The UI screen may include a pre-set item, and the method may furtherinclude additionally providing a menu corresponding to a unique functionof the selected speaker based on the item being selected by theapplication.

The pre-set event may be an event with a plurality of speakers operatingbased on a user command or wireless solutions different from one anotherbeing identified as capable of connecting with the electronic device oridentified as having connected with the electronic device.

According to an embodiment, a non-transitory computer readable mediumstilling a computer instruction for an electronic device to perform anoperation based on being executed by a processor of the electronicdevice may include and instruction for providing a list includingidentification information on a plurality of speakers operating based onwireless solutions different from one another, and an instruction forproviding a UI screen including a function commonly provide in wirelesssolutions different from one another based on one from the plurality ofspeakers being selected.

Effect of Invention

According to various embodiments of the disclosure as described above,collectively controlling a plurality of speakers that operate based onwireless solutions different from one another with only one applicationmay be achieved, and because continuity of user experience may bemaintained by providing a UI screen including functions commonlyprovided to control the plurality of speakers, user convenience may beimproved.

DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram for describing a system including anelectronic device and a speaker according to an embodiment of thedisclosure;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram for showing a configuration of an electronicdevice according to an embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram for showing an example of a detailedconfiguration of an electronic device of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart for describing a method of transmitting a usercommand input to an electronic device to a speaker according to anembodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 5 is a diagram for describing an operation of searching for aspeaker by filtering when searching for speakers according to anembodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 6 is a diagram for describing a UI screen including functionscommonly provided in wireless solutions different from one anotheraccording to an embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 7 is a diagram for describing a method for selecting a uniquefunction of a selected speaker according to an embodiment of thedisclosure;

FIG. 8 is a diagram for describing a list including identificationinformation on a plurality of speakers according to an embodiment of thedisclosure;

FIG. 9 is a block diagram of an application for collectively controllinga plurality of speakers according to an embodiment of the disclosure;and

FIG. 10 is a flowchart for describing a method for controlling anelectronic device according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

BEST MODE FOR IMPLEMENTING THE DISCLOSURE Detailed Description ofExemplary Embodiments

The disclosure will be described in greater detail below with referenceto the attached drawings. In describing the embodiments, in case it isdetermined that the detailed description of related known functions orconfigurations may unnecessarily confuse the gist of the disclosure, thedetailed description may be omitted. Further, the embodiments describedbelow may be modified to various different forms, and the ideas andtechnical scope of the disclosure as set forth is not to limit thefollowing embodiments. Rather, the embodiments are provided to describethe disclosure more fully and completely, and to fully transfer thetechnical idea of the disclosure to one of ordinary skill in the art.

In addition, ‘comprising’ a certain element may be understood as furthercomprising another element rather than excluding another element unlessotherwise specified. Further, it should be noted that various elementsand regions in the drawings may be schematically drawn. Accordingly, thetechnical idea of the disclosure may not be limited by the relative sizeor distance illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

In addition, the expression ‘at least one of a, b and c’ may beinterpreted as ‘a’, ‘b’, ‘c’, ‘a and b’, ‘a and c’, ‘b and c’, or ‘a, band c’.

The disclosure will be described in greater detail below with referenceto the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram for describing a system including anelectronic device and a speaker according to an embodiment of thedisclosure.

The electronic device 100 may include a function to control an externalspeaker 200. The electronic device 100 may be implemented as, forexample, a television (TV). However, any device capable of connectingwirelessly with the external speaker 200 and controlling the externalspeaker 200 may be applicable, without being limited thereto. Forexample, the electronic device may be implemented as a smartphone, atablet, a personal computer (PC), a Blu-ray player, and the like.

The external speaker 200 may be implemented to be controllablewirelessly by the electronic device 100. For example, the externalspeaker 200 may be implemented as a speaker device such as a wirelessspeaker, a sound bar, and a room speaker capable of outputting soundcontent. The speaker 200 may be explained below as referring to anexternal speaker located outside of the electronic device 100.

The speaker 200 may perform the function of outputting an audio signal.For example, the speaker 200 may include a plurality of speakers (oraudio amplifier) capable of outputting multi-channels. The speaker 200may, for example, include an L channel speaker and a R channel speakerplaying back an L channel and R channel respectively. However, thespeaker is not limited thereto, and the speaker 200 may be implementedin various forms. In another example, the speaker 200 may also beimplemented in sound bar form playing back an L channel, a R channel,and a center channel.

Conventionally, there was the inconvenience of having to useapplications different from one another to control a plurality ofspeakers 200-1, 200-2, 200-3, and 200-4 using wireless solutions (orwireless transmission technology) different from one another as in FIG.1.

According to an embodiment, an application for collectively controllinga plurality of speakers operating based on wireless solutions differentfrom one another may be stored in the electronic device 100, and if theapplication is a speaker capable of connecting to the electronic device100 regardless of the type of wireless solution or type of speaker, a UIscreen including a commonly provided function for controlling thecorresponding speaker may be provided, and the speaker 200 may becontrolled by transmitting a user command input through the UI screen tothe selected speaker. The various embodiments of the disclosure will bedescribed in greater detail below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram for showing a configuration of an electronicdevice according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 2, the electronic device 100 may include a display110, a storage 120, and a processor 130.

The display 110 may output content. The output content be a UI screeninput with a user command to search or control the speaker 200 or a UIscreen including a function that is commonly provided in wirelesssolutions (or wireless transmission technology) different from oneanother. In addition, the output content may be feedback informationindicating that an operation according to input user command has beenperformed. The wireless solution, as a software including control datacapable of controlling a corresponding speaker 200 wireless, may referto wireless audio transmission technology. Accordingly, the wirelesssolution may be designated as a wireless transmission technology (orwireless audio transmission technology), but convenience of description,the term wireless solution may be used below.

The display 110 may be implemented in various forms such as, forexample, a liquid crystal display (LCD), an organic light-emitting diode(OLED), a liquid crystal on silicon (LCoS), a digital light processing(DLP), a quantum dot (QD) display panel, and the like.

The storage 120 may store control programs for controlling theelectronic device 100 and the processor 130, applications provided bythe original manufacturer or downloaded externally, graphical userinterface (GUI, hereinafter referred to as “GUI”) related to theapplication, objects (e.g., image text, icon, button, etc.) forproviding the GUI, user information, documents, databases, or relateddata.

The storage 120 may store applications for collectively controlling theplurality of speakers. For convenience of description, the applicationmay be described below as referring to applications stored in thestorage 120 for collectively controlling the plurality of speakers.

The storage 120 may be implemented as an internal memory such as aread-only memory (ROM), a random-access memory (RAM), or implemented asa memory separate from the processor 130. In this example, the storage120 may be implemented in memory form embedded to the electronic device100 or implemented in memory form detachable from the electronic device100 according to data storage use. For example, in the case of data fordriving of the electronic device 100, the data may be stored in theembedded memory in the electronic device 100, and in the case of datafor extension function of the electronic device 100, the data may bestored in the memory detachable from the electronic device 100. In thecase of the memory embedded in the electronic device 100, the memory maybe implemented to forms such as a non-volatile memory, a volatilememory, a hard disk drive (HDD), or a solid state drive (SSD).

The processor 130 may control the overall operation of the electronicdevice 100.

According to an embodiment, the processor 130 may be implemented as adigital signal processor (DSP), a microprocessor, and a time controller(TCON) processing a digital signal. However, the embodiment is notlimited thereto, and may include one or more of a central processingunit (CPU), a micro controller unit (MCU), a micro processing unit(MPU), a controller, an application processor (AP), a communicationprocessor (CP), or an ARM processor, or may be defined by thecorresponding term. In addition, the processor 130 may be implemented asa system on chip (SoC) embedded with a processing algorithm, a largescale integration (LSI), or may be implemented in the form of a fieldprogrammable gate array (FPGA).

The processor 130 may run an application for collectively controllingthe plurality of speakers according to a pre-set event. The pre-setevent may be a user command. For example, if a user selects an itemindicating an application, the processor 130 may run the application.

Alternatively, the pre-set event may be an event with the plurality ofspeakers being identified as speakers capable of connecting with theelectronic device 100, or identified as having connected with theelectronic device 100. For example, when the electronic device 100searches for a speaker capable of automatic connection or the searchedspeaker is set to automatically connect with the electronic device 100,the processor 130 may run the application if the plurality of speakersoperating based on wireless solutions different from one another isidentified as a speaker connectable with or connected with theelectronic device 100.

The application according to an embodiment, as an application performinga function for controlling an external speaker, may be implemented to beable to control the plurality of speakers adopting wireless solutionsdifferent from one another with one application. The wireless solutionmay refer to a wireless platform capable of controlling the speaker 200wirelessly. In general, speaker manufacturers may, either adoptpreviously published wireless solutions of external wireless audiotransmission technology companies, or use their own wireless solutionthat has been developed by each manufacturer.

The application according to an embodiment may store information oncontrol data for wireless solutions different from one anothercorresponding to a common function of the different wireless solutionsin order to control the plurality of speakers adopting the differentwireless solutions. The common function of the different wirelesssolutions may be a function commonly provided by each wireless solutionfrom the speaker control function provided by the different wirelesssolutions.

The application according to an embodiment may provide a list includingidentification information on the plurality of speakers adoptingwireless solutions different from one another through the display 110.The identification information may be at least one of a manufacture nameof the speaker, a product name of the speaker, and a name of thewireless solution.

In addition, the application may, based on one of the plurality ofspeaker being selected, provide a UI screen including a functioncommonly provided in the wireless solutions different from one anotherthrough the display 110.

The function commonly provided to wireless solutions different from oneanother may be a basic speaker control function such as, for example,playback and pause, fast forward (or next song), rewind (or previoussong), volume up and volume down, music playback management andequalization (EQ) function, and the like. However, the examples ofcommon function are not limited thereto, and other functions may beadded or some of the above-described function may be omitted.

The music playback management function may provide a progress bar toshow a progress state of a music currently being played back, andprovide a function identifying a playback order when a plurality ofmusic is arranged in the playback list. For example, when a repeatfunction of a current song is selected, the current music may berepeatedly played back, and when a shuffle function is selected, themusic arranged in the playback list may be played back in random order.

The EQ function may be a function that allows for selecting a type oftimbre according to a content genre or a music genre. The type of timbremay be pre-set according to the content genre or the music genre or setso that a part a frequency component is greater or smaller according touser preference

For example, control data of wireless solution A corresponding to avolume up function and control data of wireless solution B correspondingto the volume up function may be different. The control data for eachwireless solution corresponding to not only the volume up function, butalso different functions may be different.

The application may, when user command to control a specific function ofthe selected speaker is input, convert the user command to control dataof the wireless solution corresponding to the selected speaker based onthe stored information.

Because the control data for controlling the electronic device 100 andthe selected speaker according to the user command may be different foreach wireless solution, the application may convert the user command tocontrol data of the wireless solution corresponding to the selectedspeaker.

For example, a volume up command being input to the electronic device100 may be assumed.

If speaker A corresponding to wireless solution A is connected with theelectronic device 100, the application may convert the volume up commandto control data indicating the volume up instruction of wirelesssolution A. For example, the instruction may be converted to “Cmd: 3”,which is the control data indicating the volume up instruction ofwireless solution A.

In addition, if speaker B corresponding to wireless solution B isconnected with the electronic device 100, the application may convertthe volume up command as control data indicating the volume upinstruction of wireless solution B. For example, the instruction may beconverted to “Cmd: U”, which is the control data indicating the volumeup instruction of wireless solution B.

The application may transmit the converted control data to the selectedspeaker.

For example, “Cmd: 3”, which is the control data indicating the volumeup instruction of wireless solution A, may be transmitted to speaker Acorresponding to wireless solution A. In addition, “Cmd: U”, which isthe control data indicating the volume up instruction of wirelesssolution B, may be transmitted to speaker B corresponding to wirelesssolution B.

The application may, based on receiving information indicating that anoperation corresponding to the control data has been performed from thespeaker, provide feedback indicating that the corresponding operationhas been performed based on the received information through the display110.

For example, is the specific speaker receives control data correspondingto the volume up and performs the volume up operation and informationindicating that the volume up operation has been performed is receivedfrom the electronic device 100, the application may provide the feedbackindicating that the volume up operation has been performed in thecorresponding speaker.

The feedback may be feedback of providing an image or a text indicatingthat the corresponding operation has been performed through the display110. For example, based on receiving information indicating that thevolume up operation has been performed from the speaker, the applicationmay provide feedback with at least one of a progress bar indicating thecurrent volume size of the corresponding speaker which performed thevolume up function and a number indicating a current volume size.However, the embodiment is not limited thereto, and the electronicdevice 100 may provide feedback outputting a specific sound or voice.

The application may provide a UI screen including a function thatcommonly provided in a first wireless solution and a second wirelesssolution corresponding to a first speaker and a second speaker selectedwhen the first speaker and the second speaker are selected from theplurality of speakers through the display 110.

The first speaker may be a speaker using the wireless solution differentfrom one another from the second speaker.

The function commonly provided in the first wireless solution and thesecond wireless solution may be a function for controlling the firstspeaker and the second speaker.

The application may, based on the user command for controlling aspecific function of the first speaker and the second speaker beinginput, convert the user command to the first control data and the secondcontrol data of the first wireless solution and the second wirelesssolution corresponding to the first speaker and the second speakerrespectively.

For example, a volume up command being input to the electronic device100 may be assumed.

Based on speaker A corresponding to wireless solution A and speaker Bcorresponding to wireless solution B being connected with the electronicdevice 100, the application may convert the volume up command to acontrol data indicating the volume up instruction of wireless solution Aand a control data indicating the volume up instruction of wirelesssolution B respectively. For example, the command may be converted to“Cmd: 3”, which is the control data indicating the volume up instructionof wireless solution A and “Cmd: U”, which is the control dataindicating the volume up instruction of wireless solution B. Theapplication may then transmit the converted control data “Cmd: 3” tospeaker A corresponding to wireless solution A and transmit theconverted control data “Cmd: U” to speaker B corresponding to wirelesssolution B.

Because the plurality of speakers using wireless solutions differentfrom one another connected with the electronic device 100 may beconveniently controlled through the UI screen of one application,convenience may be provided to the user. The application may control theplurality of speakers using the same wireless solution.

The application may provide a UI screen for receiving input of at leastone of a name of the wireless solution corresponding to the speaker, amanufacturer name of the speaker, and a product name of the speaker.

The application may search for speakers capable of connecting with theelectronic device 100 based on input information when at least one ofthe name of the wireless solution corresponding to the speaker, themanufacturer name of the speaker, and the product name of the speaker isinput. For example, when the electronic device 100 performs Bluetoothcommunication with the speaker, pairing, that is the process ofdiscovering a speaker capable of wireless communication due toinformation therebetween being registered, may already have beenperformed, but the embodiment may not be limited thereto.

The application may, based on searching for the speaker 200 capable ofconnecting with the electronic device 100 without receiving input oninformation on the speaker 200 or the wireless solution, spend arelatively long time identifying whether the speaker corresponding toeach wireless solution may be identified.

Based on at least one of the name of the wireless solution correspondingto the speaker, the manufacturer name of the speaker, and the productname of the speaker being input, the application may perform filteringso as to search for only speakers capable of connecting based on theinput information. Accordingly, the time spent in identifying thespeaker capable of connecting with the electronic device 100 may bereduced.

For example, when a specific wireless solution instruction is input, theapplication may identify whether the wireless solution corresponding toinput information is stored in the application. When the wirelesssolution corresponding to the input information is stored in theapplication, the application may search for only the speakercorresponding to the relevant wireless solution and identify if thespeaker is capable of connecting with the electronic device 100. If thewireless solution corresponding to the input information is not storedin the application, the application may provide feedback indicating thatthe speaker capable of connecting with the electronic device has notbeen identified. Alternatively, the application may provide anenvironment where the relevant wireless solution is downloadable througha wireless network.

The application may store information on a type of wireless solutioncorresponding to the manufacturer name of the speaker and the productname of the speaker. For example, when the manufacturer name of speakerA is input, the application may identify the type of wireless solutioncorresponding to the manufacturer of speaker A and identify whether therelevant solution may be the wireless solution stored in theapplication. In addition, when the product name of speaker A is input,the application may identify the type of wireless solution correspondingto the product of speaker A and identify whether the relevant wirelesssolution is the wireless solution stored in the application. Based onthe wireless solution corresponding to the input information beingstored in the application, only the speaker corresponding to therelevant wireless solution may be searched to identify whether thespeaker is capable of connecting with the electronic device. Based onthe wireless solution corresponding to the input information not beingstored in the application, the application may provide feedbackindicating that the speaker capable of connecting with the electronicdevice 100 was not identified.

The application may identify the arrangement order of the plurality ofspeakers on the list based on at least one of a selection history of theuser including at least one of a time of selection and a frequency ofselection, and the arrangement order when searching for connectablespeakers.

The time of selection may refer to the time when the speaker forconnecting with the electronic device 100 is selected. The relevantspeaker may be preferentially arranged the more relatively recent thetime of selection may be.

The frequency of selection may refer to the number of times the speakerfor connecting with the electronic device 100 has been selected. Therelevant speaker may be preferentially arranged the higher the frequencyof selection may be.

The order of identification when searching for connectable speakers mayrefer to the order of the speaker relatively first identified whensearching for speakers for connecting with the electronic device 100.The speaker with the relatively faster order of identification may bepreferentially arranged. For example, when speaker A is first searchedand speaker B is searched thereafter, speaker A may be arranged firstthan speaker B on the list.

The UI screen may include a pre-set item for providing a differentfunction other than the above-described common function. For example, atleast one of a search category, a setting category, a help category, anda menu category corresponding to the unique function of the selectedspeaker may be provided through the pre-set item. The menu categorycorresponding to the unique function of the speaker may be provided as acategory in a form including the identification information (e.g.,product name of speaker, icon of a form of speaker, etc.) of therelevant speaker, but is not limited thereto.

The search category may search content including music, and the settingcategory may include playback speed information, music information, andthe like, and the help category may include information helpful in usingthe relevant application.

The unique function of the speaker may refer to a function provided onlyin the wireless solution adopted by the relevant speaker. If the menucategory corresponding to the unique function of the speaker, forexample, the selected speaker is speaker A, a “speaker A” category maybe provided. If “speaker A” category is selected, a UI including thefunction that is provided only in the wireless solution corresponding tospeaker A may be provided. For example, if speaker A includes the uniquefunction of outputting rich bass sounds by specializing in bass soundoutput, the function of bass output may be selected.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram for showing an example of a detailedconfiguration of an electronic device of FIG. 2.

Referring to FIG. 3, the electronic device 100 may include a display110, a storage 120, a processor 130, a communicator (e.g., communicatorcomprising circuitry) 140, an audio outputter 150, and an externalinterface 160. From the configurations illustrated in FIG. 3, detaileddescription of configurations overlapping with those disclosed in FIG. 2be omitted.

The processor 130 may include a ROM (or a non-volatile memory) storedwith a control program for controlling the CPU 131 and electronic device100 and a RAM (or volatile memory) for storing data input externally orused as storage region corresponding to various operations performed inthe electronic device 100.

The processor 130 may drive various applications including anapplication for collectively controlling the operating system (O/S) andprograms stored in the storage 120 and the plurality of speakers basedon a pre-set event being generated. The processor 130 may include asingle core, a dual core, a triple core, a quad core, and multiple coresthereof.

The CPU 131 may access the storage 120 and perform booting using the O/Sstored in the storage 120. The CPU may then use the various programs,content, data and the like stored in the storage 120 to perform variousoperations.

The communicator 140 may perform communication with the speaker 200. Forexample, information indicating that an operation corresponding tocontrol data has been performed may be received from the speaker 200through the communicator 140.

The communicator 140 may perform wireless communication with the speaker200 through communication methods such as Bluetooth (BT), wirelessfidelity (WI-FI), ZigBee, and infrared (IR), but may also performcommunication with the speaker 200 through various communication methodssuch as serial interface, universal serial bus (USB), and near fieldcommunication (NFC).

For example, based on a pre-set event occurring, the communicator may bein a linked state by performing communication with the speaker 200according to a pre-defined communication method. The linking may referto all states in which communication becomes possible such as anoperation of communication being initialized between the electronicdevice 100 and the speaker 200, an operation of forming a network, andan operation of device pairing being performed. For example, the deviceidentification information of the speaker 200 may be provided to theelectronic device 100, and a process of pairing between both devices maybe performed accordingly. Based on a pre-set event occurring in theelectronic device 100 or the speaker 200, surrounding devices may besearched and pairing with the searched device may be performed to be ina linked state through the digital living network alliance (DLNA) orother communication technology. Alternatively, a connecting method usingWi-Fi between the electronic device 100 and the speaker 200 may be used.

The audio outputter (i.e., audio outputter comprising circuitry) 150 mayperform the function of outputting audio signals. For example, the audiooutputter 150 may include a plurality of speaker units (or audioamplifier) capable of outputting multi-channels. For example, the audiooutputter 150 may include a L channel speaker and a R channel speakerplaying back an L channel and a R channel respectively. However, theembodiment is not limited thereto, and the audio outputter 150 may beimplemented to various forms. In another example, the audio outputter150 may also be implemented in a sound bar form playing back an Lchannel, a R channel, and a center channel.

The processor 130 may perform communication with the external interface160. The external interface 160 may be a wired interface or a wirelessinterface. For example, the external interface may be a wired interfacesuch as a USB or a wireless interface such as Bluetooth. The processor130 may store the wireless solution received through the externalinterface 160 in the application.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart for describing a method of transmitting a usercommand input to an electronic device to a speaker according to anembodiment of the disclosure.

The application may provide a list including identification informationon the plurality of speakers through the display 110, and one speakermay be selected from the plurality of speakers arranged on the list(S410).

The application may pre-store information on a control data of thewireless solution corresponding to each function of the selectedspeaker. The application may call information on the control data of thewireless solution corresponding to the selected speaker (S420).

Based on the user command for controlling the selected speaker beinginput (S430), the application may convert the user command to controldata of the wireless solution corresponding to the selected speaker(S440). The control data for controlling each speaker according to theuser command may be different by each wireless solution and theapplication may convert the user command to control data of the wirelesssolution corresponding to each speaker.

For example, a volume up command being input to the electronic device100 may be assumed.

If speaker A corresponding to wireless solution A is connected with theelectronic device 100, the application may convert the volume up commandto control data indicating the volume up instruction of wirelesssolution A. For example, the command may be converted to “Cmd: 3”, whichis the control data indicating the volume up instruction of wirelesssolution A.

In addition, if speaker B corresponding to wireless solution B isconnected with the electronic device 100, the application may convertthe volume up command to control data indicating the volume upinstruction of wireless solution B. For example, the command may beconverted to “Cmd: U”, which is the control data indicating the volumeup instruction of wireless solution B.

The application may transmit the converted control data to the selectedspeaker (S450).

For example, “Cmd: 3”, which is the control data indicating the volumeup instruction of wireless solution A, may be transmitted to speaker Acorresponding to wireless solution A. In addition, “Cmd: U”, which isthe control data indicating the volume up instruction of wirelesssolution B, may be transmitted to speaker B corresponding to wirelesssolution B.

The having selected a plurality of speakers in the select speaker stage(S410) may be assumed.

Based on the first speaker and the second speaker being selected, theapplication may call information on control data of the wirelesssolution of the selected first speaker and the selected second speaker.

Based on user command being input, the application may then respectivelyconvert the input user command to control data for each wirelesssolutions corresponding to the selected first speaker and the selectedsecond speaker and transmit the converted control data to the firstspeaker and the second speaker respectively.

For example, based on the input user command being a volume up command,if speaker A corresponding to wireless solution A and speaker Bcorresponding to wireless solution B is connected with the electronicdevice 100, the application may convert the volume up command to thecontrol data indicating the volume up instruction of wireless solution Aand the control data indicating the volume up instruction of wirelesssolution B respectively. The command may be converted to “Cmd: 3”, whichis the control data indicating the volume up instruction of wirelesssolution A, and “Cmd: U”, which is the control data indicating thevolume up instruction of wireless solution B. The application may thentransmit the converted control data “Cmd: 3” to speaker A correspondingto wireless solution A and transmit the converted control data “Cmd: U”to speaker B corresponding to wireless solution B.

FIG. 5 is a diagram for describing an operation of searching for aspeaker by filtering when searching for speakers according to anembodiment of the disclosure.

The application may, based on searching for speakers capable ofconnecting with the electronic device 100 when information on thespeaker has not been received, require a relatively long time inidentifying whether the speaker corresponding to each wireless solutionhas been identified.

Based on at least one of the name of the wireless solution correspondingto the speaker, the manufacturer name of the speaker, and the productname of the speaker being input, the application may perform filteringto search only for connectable speakers based on the input information.Accordingly, the application may reduce the time required in identifyingthe speaker capable of connecting with the electronic device 100.

Referring to FIG. 5, the application may provide a UI screen 510, 520 or530 for receiving input of at least one of the name of the wirelesssolution corresponding to the speaker, the manufacturer name of thespeaker, and the product name of the speaker and perform filtering tosearch only for speakers capable of connecting with the electronicdevice 100 based on the input information.

Based on the UI screen 510, 520 or 530 for receiving input on at leastone information of the name of the wireless solution corresponding tothe speaker, the manufacturer name of the speaker, and the product nameof the speaker being displayed, the application may receive input on theabove-described information from the user by providing a virtualkeyboard 550. The text input through the virtual keyboard 550 may bedisplayed on the UI screen 510, 520 or 530.

However, the embodiment is not limited thereto, and the electronicdevice 100 may recognize user utterance through a voice recognitionfunction and display the recognized text to the UI screen 510, 520 or530.

The application may receive input on the text directly through thevirtual keyboard 550, but may receive input on information by providingthe list related to the name of the wireless solution, the manufacturername of the speaker and the product name of the speaker respectively.

The application may provide the stored name of the wireless solution asa list. For example, the application may provide an icon 515 of aspecific form to a pre-set area of the UI screen 510 to receive input onthe name of the wireless solution. If the relevant icon 515 is selected,the application may display the list related to the stored name of thewireless solution. When at least one wireless solution is selected fromthe arranged list and a search button 540 is selected, the applicationmay perform filtering to search only for speakers corresponding to theselected wireless solution.

Because the application does not perform a search on speakerscorresponding to wireless solutions that have not been selected, thetime required in the search may be reduced.

In addition, the application may provide the manufacturer name of thespeaker corresponding to the stored wireless solution as a list. Forexample, the application may provide an icon 525 of a specific form to apre-set area of the UI screen 520 for receiving input of themanufacturer name of the speaker. Based on the relevant icon 525 beingselected, the application may display the list related to themanufacturer name of the speaker corresponding to the stored wirelesssolution.

In addition, the application may provide the product name of the speakercorresponding to the stored wireless solution as a list. For example,the application may provide an icon 535 of a specific form to a pre-setarea of the UI screen 530 for receiving input on product name of thespeaker. Based on the relevant icon 535 being selected, the applicationmay display the list related to the product name of the speakercorresponding to the stored wireless solution.

Based on at least one of the name of the wireless solution correspondingto the speaker, the manufacturer name of the speaker, and the productname of the speaker being input and the search button 540 beingselected, the application may perform filtering to search only forspeakers capable of connecting with the electronic device 100 based onthe input information.

FIG. 6 is a diagram for describing a UI screen including functionscommonly provided in wireless solutions different from one anotheraccording to an embodiment of the disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 6, the function commonly provided in wirelesssolutions different from one another may be basic functions such as, forexample, playback and pause 610, fast forward (or next song) 620, rewind(or previous song) 630, volume up and volume down 640, music playbackmanagement 650 and EQ function 660, and the like.

The music playback management function may provide a progress bar forindicating the progress state of the music currently being played back,provide lyrics of the music currently being played back when the icon650 indicating the music playback management function is selected, andprovide the function of identifying the playback order if a plurality ofmusic is arranged on the playback list. For example, based on the repeatcurrent song function being selected, the current music may be repeatedand played back, and the music arranged in the playback list nay beplayed hack in random order if a shuffle function is selected.

The EQ function may refer to the function of selecting the type oftimbre according to the content genre or the music genre. The type oftimbre may be pre-set according to the content genre or the music genreor set so that a part a frequency component is greater or smalleraccording to user preference.

FIG. 7 is a diagram for describing a method for selecting a uniquefunction of a selected speaker according to an embodiment of thedisclosure.

Referring to FIG. 7, the UI screen including the function commonlyprovided in wireless solutions different from one another forcontrolling the speaker may include a pre-set item. The pre-set item maybe provided in the form of an icon 710 including a menu category forcontrolling the speaker 200.

For example, if the icon 710 indicating the pre-set item is selected,the application may provide at least one of a menu category 750corresponding to the a search category 720, a setting category 730, ahelp category 740 and a menu category 750 corresponding to the uniquefunction of the selected speaker. The menu category 750 corresponding tothe unique function of the speaker may be provided as a category in aform including the identification information (e.g., product name ofspeaker, icon of a form of speaker, etc.) of the relevant speaker, butis not limited thereto.

The search category 720 may search for content including music, and thesetting category 730 may include information on playback speed, musicinformation and the like, and the help category 740 may includeinformation helpful is using the relevant application.

The unique function of the speaker may refer to a function provided onlyin the wireless solution adopted by the relevant speaker. If the menucategory corresponding to the unique function of the speaker, forexample, the selected speaker is speaker A, a “speaker A” category maybe provided. If “speaker A” category is selected, a UI including thefunction that is provided only in the wireless solution corresponding tospeaker A may be provided.

FIG. 8 is a diagram for describing a list including identificationinformation on a plurality of speakers according to an embodiment of thedisclosure.

Referring to FIG. 8, the application stored in the storage 120 mayprovide a list including the identification information on at least oneidentified speaker if the speaker corresponding to the wireless solutionstored in the application is identified.

The identified information may be one of the name of the wirelesssolution corresponding to the identified speaker, the manufacturer nameof the identified speaker, and the product name of the identifiedspeaker.

The application may receive user command input through an ON OFF button.For example, if speaker A is selected and is turned ON, the applicationmay generate control data corresponding to the wireless solution ofspeaker A and transmit the generated control data to speaker A. Based onreceiving information indicating that connection with the electronicdevice 100 has been performed, the application may provide feedbackindicating that the electronic device 100 and speaker A has beenconnected through the display 110 based on the received information.

If a plurality of speakers corresponding to wireless solutions differentfrom one another is identified and a list including the identificationinformation of the plurality of speakers is provided, for example, alist including the identification information on speaker A, speaker Band speaker C is provided, speaker A and speaker C may be selected.

The user may select speaker A corresponding to wireless solution A andchange to a ON state, and select speaker C corresponding to wirelesssolution C and change to a ON state. In one example, based on the usercommand for music playback being input, the application may then convertthe music playback command to control data corresponding to wirelesssolution A and wireless solution B respectively, and transmit theconverted control data different from one another to speaker A andspeaker B respectively. Speaker A and speaker B based on wirelesssolutions different from one another may playback the same musicaccording to the music playback command of the user.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram of an application for collectively controllinga plurality of speakers according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

The application 900 for collectively controlling the plurality ofspeakers according to an embodiment may be a software, the eachcomponents of the application 900 may be respective modules of software.

As illustrated in FIG. 9, the application may include a user interfacescreen 910, a connection management interface 920, an interface 930corresponding to the wireless solution, and a wireless solution 940.

The user interface screen 910 may provide a UI screen including thefunction commonly provided to control the plurality of speakers, a UIscreen for receiving input on the name of the wireless solutioncorresponding to the speaker, the manufacturer name of the speaker, andthe product name of the speaker, and the like. In addition, the userinterface screen 910 may provide feedback indicating that a specificoperation has been performed in the speaker 950.

The connection management interface 920 may refer to a platformconnecting the user interface screen 910 and the wireless solution 940.The connection management interface 920 may receive information on therelevant wireless solution from the interface 930 of the wirelesssolution corresponding to the selected speaker.

The connection management interface 920 may, based on a user command forcontrolling a specific function of the speaker being input, convert theuser command to control data of the wireless solution corresponding tothe selected speaker based on information received from the wirelesssolution.

For example, a volume up command being input may be assumed.

If the selected speaker is speaker A, the connection managementinterface 920 may convert the volume up command to “Cmd: 3”, which isthe control data indicating the volume: up instruction of wirelesssolution A.

Alternatively, if the selected speaker is speaker B, the connectionmanagement interface 920 may convert the volume up command to “Cmd: U”,which is the control data indicating the volume up instruction ofwireless solution B.

The connection management interface 920 may transmit informationcorresponding to the relevant feedback operation by analyzing feedbackinformation received from the specific interface to the user interfacescreen 910.

The interface 930 may refer to a platform exchanging information withthe connection management interface 920 and the communicator 140. Theinterface 930 may be different for each wireless solution, but is notlimited thereto, and a common interface that is common in wirelesssolutions different from one another may be used. For example, althoughcompanies of different wireless solutions may not only produce wirelesssolutions but also interfaces different from one another, only thewireless solution may be separately produced and the same interface 930may be used.

Specifically, each interface may transmit information on the wirelesssolution corresponding to the relevant interface to the connectionmanagement interface 920. In addition, the interface 930 may receivecontrol data converted based on the user command from the connectionmanagement interface 920. The interface 930 may transmit the convertedcontrol data to the communicator 140.

For example, when speaker A is selected, interface A may transmitcontrol data received from the connection management interface 920 tothe communicator 140, and the transmitted control data may betransmitted to speaker A through the communicator 140.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart for describing a method for controlling anelectronic device according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 10, the electronic device 100 may run an applicationfor collectively controlling the plurality of speakers according to thepre-set event (S1010).

The pre-set event may be the user command. For example, when the userselects an item indicating the application, the processor 130 may runthe application.

Alternatively, the pre-set event may be an event with the plurality ofspeakers operating based on wireless solutions different from oneanother being identified as a speaker capable of connecting with orhaving connected with the electronic device 100. For example, if theelectronic device 100 is set to automatically search for connectablespeakers 200 or the searched speaker 200 is set to automatically connectwith the electronic device 100, the processor 130 may run theapplication when the plurality of speakers operating based on wirelesssolutions different from one another is identified as speakers capableof connecting with or having connected with the electronic device 100.

The application may search for the speaker corresponding to the storedwireless solution, and provide the list including the identificationinformation on the searched plurality of speakers (S1020).

The identification information may be one of the name of the wirelesssolution corresponding to the identified speaker, the manufacturer nameof the identified speaker, and the product name of the identifiedspeaker.

Based on one from the plurality of speakers being selected, theapplication may provide the UI screen including the function that iscommonly provided in the wireless solutions different from one another(S1030).

The function commonly provided in wireless solutions different from oneanother may be basic functions such as, for example, playback, pause,fast forward (or next song), rewind (or previous song), volume up andvolume down, music playback management and EQ function, and the like.

Even if the first speaker and the second speaker from the plurality ofspeakers is selected, the application may provide a UI screen includingthe function provided commonly in wireless solutions different from oneanother.

Because detailed operations of each stage has been described above, andthe detailed description thereof may be omitted.

The various embodiments described above may be implemented in arecordable medium which is readable by computer or a device similar tocomputer using software, hardware, or the combination of software andhardware. In some cases, the embodiments described herein may beimplemented by the processor itself. According to a softwareimplementation, embodiments such as the procedures and functionsdescribed herein may be implemented with separate software modules. Eachof the above-described software modules may perform one or more of thefunctions and operations described herein.

The computer instructions for performing the processing operationsaccording to the various embodiments described above may be stored in anon-transitory computer-readable medium. The computer instructionsstored in this non-transitory computer-readable medium may causespecific devices to perform the processing operations according to theabove-described various embodiments when executed by the processor ofthe specific device. In addition, the applications stored in the storage120 for collectively controlling the plurality of speakers may be drivenin a non-transitory computer readable medium.

The non-transitory computer readable medium refers to a medium thatstores data semi-permanently rather than storing data for a very shorttune, such as a register, a cache, a memory or etc., and is readable bya device. Specific examples of the non-transitory computer readablemedium may include, for example, a compact disc (CD), a digitalversatile disc (MD), a hard disc, a Blu-ray disc, a USB, a memory card,a ROM, and the like

The description above illustrates and describes exemplary embodiments ofthe disclosure and are not to be construed as limiting the disclosure.It will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that variouschanges in form and details may be made therein without departing fromthe spirit and scope of the disclosure, and the various changes in formand details are not to be understood as individual from the technicalidea or scope of the disclosure.

What is claimed is:
 1. An electronic device comprising: a display; astorage stored with an application for collectively controlling aplurality of speakers operating based on wireless solutions differentfrom one another; and a processor configured to run the applicationaccording to a pre-set event, wherein the application is configured toprovide a list comprising identification information on the plurality ofspeakers through the display, and provide a UI screen comprising afunction commonly provided in the wireless solutions different from oneanother through the display based on one of the plurality of speakersbeing selected.
 2. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein theapplication is configured to: store information on control data for eachwireless solution different from one another corresponding to thefunction; based on a user command for controlling a specific function ofthe selected speaker being input, convert the user command to controldata of a wireless solution corresponding to the selected speaker basedon the stored information; and transmit the control data to the selectedspeaker.
 3. The electronic device of claim 2, wherein the application isconfigured to, based on receiving information indicating that anoperation corresponding to the control data has been performed from thespeaker, provide feedback indicating the operation has been performedbased on the received information through the display.
 4. The electronicdevice of claim 1, wherein the application is configured to: provide theUI screen comprising a function commonly provided in a first wirelesssolution and a second wireless solution corresponding to a selectedfirst speaker and a selected second speaker through the display based onthe first speaker and the second speaker being selected among theplurality of speakers; and based on the user command for controlling aspecific function of the first speaker and the second speaker beinginput, convert the user command to a first control data and a secondcontrol data of the first wireless solution and the second wirelesssolution corresponding respectively to the first speaker and the secondspeaker to transmit to the first speaker and the second speakerrespectively.
 5. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein theapplication is configured to: provide a UI screen for receiving input ofat least one of a name of a wireless solution corresponding to aspeaker, a manufacturer name of the speaker, and a product name of thespeaker; and based on at least one of a name of a wireless solutioncorresponding to the speaker, a manufacturer name of the speaker, and aproduct name of the speaker being input, search for speakers capable ofconnecting with the electronic device based on input information.
 6. Theelectronic device of claim 1, wherein the application is configured toidentify an order of arrangement of the plurality of speakers on thelist based on at least one from a selection history of a user comprisingat least one of a time of selection and a frequency of selection and anorder of arrangement at the time of searching for connectable speakers.7. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the UI screen includes apre-set item, and the application is configured to, based on the itembeing selected, additionally provide a menu corresponding to a uniquefunction of the selected speaker.
 8. The electronic device of claim 1,wherein the pre-set event is an event with a plurality of speakersoperating based on a user command or wireless solutions different fromone another being identified as capable of connecting with theelectronic device or identified as having connected with the electronicdevice.
 9. A method of controlling an electronic device to store anapplication for iv controlling a plurality of speakers operating basedon wireless solutions different from one another, the method comprising:running the application according to a pre-set event; and providing alist comprising identification information on the plurality of speakersby the application and providing a UI screen comprising a functioncommonly provided in the wireless solutions different from one anotherbased on one of the plurality of speakers being selected.
 10. The methodof claim 9, the method further comprising: storing information oncontrol data for wireless solutions different from one anothercorresponding to the function by the application, and based on a usercommand for controlling a specific function of the selected speakerbeing input, converting the user command to a control data of a wirelesssolution corresponding to the selected speaker by the application basedon information stored in the application, and transmitting the controldata to the selected speaker.
 11. The method of claim 10, the methodfurther comprising: based on receiving information indicating that anoperating corresponding to the control data has been performed from thespeaker, providing feedback indicating that the operation has beenperformed by the application based on the received information.
 12. Themethod of claim 9, the method further comprising: providing the UIscreen comprising a function commonly provided in a first wirelesssolution and a second wireless solution corresponding to a selectedfirst speaker and a selected second speaker by the application based onthe first speaker and the second speaker being selected from theplurality of speakers; and based on a user command for controlling aspecific function of the first speaker and the second speaker beinginput, converting the user command to a first control data and a secondcontrol data of the first wireless solution and the second wirelesssolution corresponding respectively to the first speaker and the secondspeaker and transmitting the converted first control data and theconverted second control data to the first speaker and the secondspeaker respectively by the application.
 13. The method of claim 9, themethod further comprising: providing a UI screen for receiving input ofat least one of a name of a wireless solution corresponding to aspeaker, a manufacturer name of the speaker, and a product name of thespeaker by the application; and based on at least one of a name of thewireless solution corresponding to the speaker, a manufacturer name ofthe speaker, and a product name of the speaker being input by theapplication, searching for a speaker capable of connecting with theelectronic device based on an input information.
 14. The method of claim9, the method further comprising: identifying an order of arrangement ofthe plurality of speakers on the list based on at least one of a userselection history comprising at least one of a time of selection and afrequency of section and identification order at the time of searchingfor connectable speakers by the application.
 15. The method of claim 9,wherein the UI screen comprises a pre-set item, and wherein the methodfurther comprises additionally providing a menu corresponding to aunique function of the selected speaker based on the item being selectedby the application.